Puerto de la Cruz and Mount Teide, Tenerife

On our second day on Tenerife, we drove from our apartment in Santa Cruz de Tenerife to Puerto de la Cruz, on the north side of the island. The main points of interest there are the Jardin de Aclimatacion de la Orotava (botanical garden) and the Agatha Christie painted stairs.

We parked in the parking lot adjacent to the botanical garden (Adequate, convenient parking! A rare commodity on our trip.). After visiting the garden, we walked twenty minutes to the stairs. Our walk took us through a charming, upscale area of resort hotels, restaurants, shopping, and nice homes. (more…)

Carvoeiro, Portugal (and Portimão)

For the third stop on our month-long Portugal adventure, we stayed in Carvoeiro, a beach resort town on the Algarve coast.

Carvoeiro differs from most other Portuguese towns in that it doesn’t have several centuries of history. While it started as a small fishing village, its development began in the 1960s in response to the growing tourism industry. Almost all of the buildings are noticeably newer than in most other Portuguese towns. (more…)

Sand City – Lagoa, Portugal

Sand City, near Lagoa, Portugal, claims to be the largest park of sand sculptures in the world, with at least 120 sculptures spread over 12 acres. We believe it! We spent an hour and a half wandering around, admiring the work and taking dozens of photos.

Yes, it’s touristy – sort of like Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum. But the sculptures were impressive! We enjoyed our visit.

Here is a sample of the sculptures on display.

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Benagil Cave Boat Tour & Algar Seco Boardwalk

The highlight of our Portugal trip so far is a 90-minute boat tour along the Algarve coast from Praia de Carvoeiro (Carvoeiro Beach) to Praia da Marinha. During the trip, we saw (and often entered) 15-20 caves, plus spectacular cliffs, arches, and beaches. The tour included the famous, often-photographed Benagil Cave.

It was incredibly beautiful. The pictures don’t do it justice. We hope the photos and videos below give you some idea of the awesomeness of these stunning caves and rock formations.

Two days later, we walked the full length of the Algar Seco Boardwalk, which allowed us to view some of these cliff formations from above. Those photos follow the boat tour photos.

Praia de Carvoeiro (Carvoeiro Beach), where our boat tour started and ended

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Tavira, Portugal

After Cascais, we visited Tavira, a relatively small city at the eastern end of the Algarve, Portugal’s southernmost region.

Tavira is charming and quaint. It still retains the feel of an old Portuguese town. It’s very walkable; there was little vehicular traffic and plenty of pedestrian-only spaces. Everything we wanted to see was within a few blocks of our apartment. We walked no more than 15 minutes to get to the farthest restaurant and grocery store. (more…)

Cascais, Portugal

Cascais (pronounced “kesh-kysh” because in many cases the Portuguese pronounce “s” like “sh”) is a popular seaside vacation destination about 30 km west of Lisbon; a one-hour train ride. It’s the westernmost point in continental Europe. We stayed in a nice little one-bedroom vacation rental apartment that was a 15-minute walk (uphill) from downtown.

The area within a few blocks of the ocean is definitely touristy, with hotels, restaurants (most with sidewalk tables and menus in four languages), gift shops, etc. Given that Cascais is one of the more expensive places in Portugal, it caters to a middle- to upper-middle-class clientele. (more…)